Prevelar Vowel Raising and Merger in Manitoba English

This study examines production of the vowels /æ/, /ɛ/, and /e/ among three different English-speaking ethnic populations in Manitoba, Canada, focusing on patterns of raising and vowel overlap in prevelar contexts. Although raising of /æ/ before /ɡ/ has been documented for the Prairies region of Canada generally, its specific occurrence in Manitoba as well as the occurrence of vowel merger(s) there has not previously been examined in detail. This study finds that pre-velar patterns are distinguished by coda voicing, with voiceless /k/ producing lowering and some retraction while voiced /ɡ/ and /ŋ/ produce similar raising and especially fronting patterns in preceding /æ/ and /ɛ/. Statistical analysis of spatial and temporal qualities shows that, while complete merger is not observed between any of the three vowels, there is much more substantial overlap in their productions before the voiced velars than in other contexts; in contrast, the voiceless velar /k/ is associated with productions which often substantially diverge from these. The results suggest that Manitoba speakers’ productions of these vowels share some features of other dialects with velar-affected productions, but the arrangement of these features in Manitoba may represent a unique configuration having a potential, incipient, or early-stage prevelar merger of /æ/ and /ɛ/, mainly without the participation of /e/. Social factors such as conservatism and extra-local affiliation are also found to play a role in production.